Real Estate Chennai Grows Faster Than Bangalore

Recent trends in Chennai real estate show that it will stand with Bangalore real estate. How far it will take place? Following comparative analysis will tell you how far.

chennai real estate seems to be in safer hands

Chennai Real Estate Seems to Be in Safer Hands. ( image source )

Chennai and Bangalore are two prominent South Indian cities which generate new business. Both the cities have witnessed a higher level of growth in the recent past yet Chennai real estate stands little higher.

Real estate sector in both these cities are growing very fast. Of course Bangalore might stand steps ahead regarding the maturity aspect. Market growth of Bangalore which preceded that of Chennai can be counted as the reason behind this. Continue reading

Commercial Real Estate Office Space Demand Regains Pace

Commercial_Real-Estate

Commercial_Real-Estate

Demand for space in commercial real estate sector is reviving after the earlier setbacks in the primary quarters of the year 2012.  Seven prominent commercial hubs of India showed a greater pace of growth in the third quarter of 2012.  The third quarter which longs from July-to-September quarter, witnessed an A-Grade office space absorption by the major commercial real estate hubs on India. Continue reading

Real Estate Fails to Tackle Surging Housing Units Demand

Surging Housing Shortage of India.

Surging Housing Shortage of India.

Continued population boom in India leads to a situation where residential units or space remains insufficient for the people. According to Cushman and Wakefield all major cities of India are in high need of around 2.1 million new housing units to meet the increased demand. Real estate sector has to come up with new residential projects to solve out this great menace. Real estate has to play a vital role. Continue reading

Growing Service Sector Enhances Commercial Real Estate

Commercial Sector Boom

Commercial Sector Booms with Service Sector Growth

Growing service sector of India drive the demand for commercial real estate. Real estate research firms reported that Service sector of India showed a greater pace of growth rate of 8.5%. This will result in the increased demand for more commercial real estate space.  In 2011 service sector occupied 70 % of office space and this is likely to be increased this year. Continue reading

Reliance PMS Launches Real Estate Oriented Fund

Reliance Capital prepares to launch its maiden real estate focused fund of र 1,000 crore by the end of the year 2012. Reliance Capital is owned by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group. This maiden launch of Reliance Capital in the realty industry will be done under the surveillance of Reliance Portfolio Management Services (PMS). The new fund will aim at constructing residential properties.  The investment will be concentrated in the cities like Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi primarily.  Reliance selected these cities as the real estate markets of these cities are more firm and have an increasing value appreciation.

Bangalore Real Estate Price Sees Another Hike

Bangalore Real Estate Price hikes again. Despite being affected by the upcoming of Gurgaon, Noida and other suburbs, Bangalore kept its position among the top real estate fields. Due to many reasons there was a considerable growth in Bangalore Real Estate Price. Bangalore emerged as another hotter spot for the real estate. The price of the land and properties of Bangalore rocketed in recent years. Continue reading

MoU Between Century Real Estate and IIM-B

Bangalore-based, Century Real Estate and the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore has signed an MoU for setting up the IIMB-Century real estate research initiative.

The IIMB-Century Real Estate Research Initiative will focus on collecting data and conducting scientific, cross-disciplinary research on the Indian real estate sector that will be published in leading academic and practitioner journals, the realty company said in a statement.

“There is a tearing need for such an initiative in the real estate space that will focus on research, act as an interface between the industry and the policy makers and eventually churn out quality human resource for this sector,” says P Dayananda Pai, Founder-Century Real Estate.

Additionally the research initiative will seek to provide guidance and policy recommendation to government and industry stakeholders on major issues relating to the Real Estate sector.

“The initial charter for the Research Initiative will be to create taxonomy of relevant data that will be required to do meaningful research, initiate research projects that fill key knowledge gaps and engage with key stakeholders within the industry” says professor Venky Panchapagesan, who has been leading the effort to set up this initiative at IIMB.

CREDAI and Builders’ Rift over Code of Conduct

Firstly, several developers declined to abide by the code of conduct laid down by CREDAI. Following this, the association has expelled several developers, while some have resigned discontinuing their involvement with the organisation.

Opposing the self-regulation code, the builders refused to sign the association’s code of conduct. The bone of contention for builders was the code of conduct that primarily outlines transparency clauses that builders have to follow.

Ultimately, CREDAI expelled some builders, as they did not comply with the directives despite the body having issued several notices to them. DLF, Hirco and Hiranandani Realtors have been expelled from the Chennai Unit, whereas four builders have resigned from the Bangalore unit.

CREDAI has further decided to expel non-compliant builders in NCR and informed the expelled builders that they can be a part of CREDAI unit only if they sign the code of conduct.

 

Bangalore: Girish Karnad Reflects

Few decades ago, people came to Bangalore essentially for the horse races. Once the racing season was over, the city emptied out. Bangalore had little else to offer.

Today the racecourse has been moved out of the city—a former chief minister’s dream of erecting a 100-story commercial tower à la Singapore in the course’s place was foiled by public outcry—and Bangalore throbs through the year with no concern for the seasons. Its roads are chock block with traffic, and its hotels crammed.

Bangalore started its life as a cantonment built by the British to keep a watchful eye on the nearby princely city of Mysore. It was European in its orientation, with wide roads, bungalows with pillared porticoes, and spired churches where everyone spoke English. And nearby was its “native twin,” Bengaluru, congested and cowed, where the lingua franca was the South Indian language of Kannada.

In 1956 the administrative map of India was redrawn on a linguistic basis with each of its nearly 20 languages defining a separate state. And Bangalore found itself the capital of a new Kannada state, at the mercy of political and economic forces it was unprepared for. The first to pour in were bureaucrats who needed offices, houses, and roads to run the new state, their numbers swelled by the philosophy of a socialist economy that led to the setting-up of government-sponsored enterprises, like the telephone and the aeronautical industries. Ancillary enterprises followed, leading to an influx of migrant workers.

South Indian Real Estate Sector footprint

What a South Mumbai is to Mumbai or a South Delhi is to Delhi could well be South Indian cities to India! The question is – will the southern region become the downtown of India?

Southern India has for long been the silent crusader, building and strengthening its real estate development as one of the most sought after destinations in the country. With improving transparency and visibility of the real estate markets in the South zone, cities such as Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad have attained a place on the global real estate map, a status that was limited just to Mumbai and Delhi in the past.

While South Indian cities constitute nearly 45% of the country’s office space, the stock of 140 million sq ft in these cities is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8% for the period 2012 – 2016, lower than the projected national growth of 11%. This implies that the southern cities, particularly Bangalore and Hyderabad, are relatively rationalised in terms of medium term supply of office space, and the cities have chosen a strategy of pursuing selective quality developments over rapid expansion. While this would keep their share in India’s office stock range bound at 37%-40%, the South Zone’s vacancy rate by end-2012 is expected to be 16%, considerably lower than the pan-India vacancy rate of over 20%.

While demand remains healthy for organised retail spaces, it is polarised towards either successful malls or high streets, which have better footfalls and conversion ratio. As the mall stock in the southern cities sum up to breach the 40 million sq ft mark by end-2016, the vacancy by then is expected to witness a notable decline from the peak levels of 2014 to drop below the national average of 20.5%.

South India’s residential market has been an ardent follower of the ‘affordability’ mantra, with more than 80% of the new launches in the past two years being priced under INR 4,000 per sq ft (USD1 812 per sqm). As a result, the residential markets of South Indian cities have remained resilient in the past few quarters, relative to the significant decline recorded in the sales volume of Mumbai and NCR-Delhi.

The focus of Indian real estate is shifting from Tier I to Tier II cities, and the southern region is also embracing the same, with secondary hubs developing in Kochi, Coimbatore, Vishakhapatnam and Mysore, that are persistently striving for higher milestones.

 

Anand Rathi and Knight Frank Eye the Second Realty Fund

Anand Rathi Financial Services and property consultancy Knight Frank India are planning to launch their second real estate fund by end of this months and looking to raise around Rs 500 crore (~$100 million), sources close to the development told VCCircle. Unlike its peers who are hitting foreign shores to raise new funds, the joint fund rental yield and appreciation portfolio (RYAP) fund will be raised from the domestic market.  Like its predecessor, it will invest in commercial assets in tier I cities which include Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, National Capital Region (NCR) and Chennai.

The fund would be targeting returns of 10-12 per cent from its investments and expects to stay invested in an asset for four-five years. A senior executive of the joint venture fund house who did not wish to be identified, said, “We are waiting for final Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) guidelines as right now there is no clarity on registration of funds and other norms. Once we have clarity on the same which we are expecting by mid-May we will register and start our fund raising process.”

In April 2, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had unveiled its final norms to regulate AIF’s in the country. Fund managers expect the detailed guidelines to be issued in the next two weeks.

Knight Frank India and Anand Rathi Financial Services had joined hands two years ago to raise Rs 225 crore rental yield fund. It has invested Rs 135 crore from the existing fund in two projects including Hub town Ltd’s commercial project in Mumbai and Cerebrum IT park development by Pune-based Kumar Urban Development Ltd.

Realty projects, roads focus to help build-up for Unity Infraprojects

Healthy order book, strong balance sheet and the potential to unlock value from real estate projects make Unity Infraprojects a decent investment idea on a medium-term basis. Mumbai-based Unity Infraprojects is a small-sized construction firm operating in buildings, water and roads segments. The company is also developing real estate on its land parcels in Nagpur, Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata and Goa. The total saleable area from these projects is nearly nine million square feet.

Unity Infraprojects stands to gain by unlocking the value in its real estate projects. It was not able to monetise any of its real estate projects due to delays in execution by over a year. However, it is now in an advanced stage of securing approvals for launching its Bangalore residential project. Unity has a total saleable area of nearly 3 million square feet in this project, which it intends to launch in another three months.

After this it will focus on monetising its real estate in other cities. The current order book of the company in its construction business stands at Rs 4,700 crore, which are 2.75 times its FY11 revenues. These orders are to be executed over the next three years. The company has been increasing its exposure to the roads segment in the last few years. Although the roads segment is highly competitive, Unity’s backward integration in terms of owns machinery has allowed the company to garner better operating margins than its peers.

In the nine months ending December 2011, the company has maintained an operating margin of 15.5%. Another factor that augurs well for the company is its strong balance sheet. As of September 2011, the company had a debt-equity ratio of 1.1, which is one of the best among its peers. Unity Infraprojects’ stock is trading at a P/E of 3.9 while similar-sized rivals like Pratibha Industries and Supreme Infrastructure India are trading at a P/E of 5.9 and 5.2, respectively. Considering its growth potential and the relative discount to its peers, the stock looks attractive at this level.


Bangalore is just about office… office.

While demand for residential space was mostly sluggish in 2011, demand for office and retail space remained healthy in Bangalore.

The market for commercial space is estimated at 50 mil sq. ft. across the country. The average yearly absorption rates in Bangalore and NCR are about nine mil sq. ft. While six mil sq. ft. is absorbed in Mumbai, the rates are 4 to 5 mil sq. ft. each in Chennai and Hyderabad.

However, last year, Bangalore topped the list with the highest absorption of more than 13 mil sq. ft. of non-captive office space, about 2 mil sq. ft. more than the levels seen in 2010. About 80% of this came from the IT & ITES sector.

“Consolidation of real estate portfolios by Indian and MNC IT companies has boosted the real estate market in Bangalore,” said Karun Varma, MD (Bangalore and Kochi), and Jones Lang LaSalle India. “Demand for back offices and contact centres has resulted in continued strong growth in suburban real estate development, with IT companies lining up their investments for setting up new facilities in the city,” he added.

Experts predict demand for 16 mil sq. ft. of office space in 2012 in India’s Silicon Valley, which will be the highest ever in the country. This will be mostly due to the new SEZ norms and direct tax code (DTC) that will come into play.

About 75% of the 16 mil sq. ft. office space will be in upcoming SEZ regions. Recently, global investment banking firm Goldman Sachs took up 1 mil sq. ft. of office space developed by Kalyani Developers on the outer ring road. “Companies see an opportunity from a tax break perspective; so, many are planning to migrate their future work to SEZ parks,” said Shrinivas Rao, CEO (Asia Pacific), Vestian Global Workplace Services.

In the next three years, an additional 28.8 mil sq. ft. of office space will be available in the region, for which projects are already under way. “We are expecting to see about 6 to 7 mil sq. ft. of this to come up in 2012,” said Rao.

Mirah to Grow Realty Business, Double Presence in Food and Beverages

Mirah Group, a diversified business group with interests in food and beverage (F&B), hospitality, travel and international trading, is scaling up its real estate business and consolidating it under a single entity, said a top executive. The group, which runs popular restaurant chains and food stores including Rajdhani, Mad over Donuts and Manchester United Cafe and Bar, has completed around 10 real estate projects in the past decade. But it is only now that the group is organizing and branding the business under a new entity, Edifice Properties.

“We are looking to develop large mixed-development townships in Mumbai and Pune,” said Gaurav Goenka, managing director, Mirah Group. The first project is a 300-acre township in Nagpur, which has received funding in the form of foreign direct investment from a subsidiary of Bank of Scotland. The second will be a township in Pune, and the third, of 200-300 acres in Thane, is in the land acquisition stage.

In the F&B space, Mirah Group, known for expanding through acquisitions, is in talks to buy stakes in both domestic and international brands. “International brands are coming in by the dozen and we will look at picking up stakes in brands that are scalable and have a USP (unique selling proposition),” said Goenka.

The firm intends to invest around Rs.200 crore in this space in two-three years. It will expand Rajdhani, its flagship brand, from 35 outlets to 50 in a year and Mad Over Donuts to 100 from the current 35. Cafe Mangii, which is present only in Mumbai, will travel to Bangalore and Delhi and expand from five to 15 restaurants.

Mirah also runs a chain of hotels under the brand name, Citrus. From the current lot of seven hotels, it plans to open another seven that it will itself build, own and operate. Besides running its own F&B outlets, last year, Mirah Hospitality, a part of Mirah Group, invested Rs.40 crore and acquired a 26% stake in Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality Pvt. Ltd, which runs cafes and fine dining restaurants such as Mocha and Smoke House Deli.

Saloni Nangia, senior vice-president at retail consultancy Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, said that with the fast pace of growth in the number of people across socio-economic strata eating out and ordering in, the F&B space in India will only grow from where it is today. “While a lot of modern retail will move online, F&B, still being an experience-related business, will continue to grow,” she said.

Retail consultants said the F&B sector will continue to draw the attention of investors such as private equity and venture capital funds. Jacob Kurian, a partner at Asia-focused private equity fund New Silk Route, said the fund is exploring opportunities in the sector. New Silk Route is in talks to buy a stake in Adiga’s, a south Indian restaurant chain.

 

Two Indian Real Estate Deals in Asian Top Ten list.

Two real estate deals in India — the sale of Leela Kempinski Kovalam and Noida’s deal with Wave Mega City Centre – have been ranked among the top ten in their categories across Asia according to a recently published study by Real Capital. Both deals took place in August 2011.

Real Capital tracks and analyses real estate deals worth over $10 million across apartments, hotels, retail, industrial, office and development projects over the world. The Purchase of Leela Kovalam by Saudi Arabia-based industrialist Ravi Pillai, which was pegged at about Rs 500 crore ranked 10th in Asia-list of largest hotel sellers.

Bangalore and Mumbai have been named among the most active Asian markets in the office space.

Delhi was ranked sixth and Mumbai eighth in the most active Asian apartment markets. Tokyo tops the list followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Osaka and Beijing. While Chennai comes in at eighth position among active hotel markets, India did not rank in the big league when it comes to retail deals.

“India is a top focus for Realty Moghul” says Trump Scion.

Trump’s eponymous real estate group expects to sign multiple deals for Indian residential projects and hotel contracts over the next five years, despite a market riddled by regulatory uncertainty and bureaucratic red tape.

“India, among other emerging markets, is the biggest push for our organisation,” Donald Trump Jr, an executive vice president of The Trump Organization, said on Wednesday.

Trump, whose portfolio includes projects in South Korea and Turkey, in addition to hotels and skyscrapers in the United States, is close to signing a couple of deals with Indian developers, the younger Trump said without providing details.

“Equity investment will depend on individual projects and partnerships but first we would like to form relationships which allow us to understand the processes and spectrum better,” the 34-year-old said on the side-lines of a hotel conference.

The developer entered India last year with a joint venture partnership with Rohan Lifescapes to build a 45-storey luxury residential tower in Mumbai.

However, work on the tower, which will bear the Trump name but involves no equity from the U.S. developer, has been halted for about nine months since authorities said it lacked the necessary permits, a common problem in an industry wrapped in red tape.

Indian developers are often hit by changing regulations. In Mumbai, for example, the scrapping of a rule granting extra floor space in exchange for providing public parking facilities has meant many projects must reapply for clearances.

But Trump, whose father is worth an estimated $2.9 billion, according to Forbes, says the lure of an emerging India outweighs the regulatory headaches.

“The Indian market is starved for a good luxury product and it needs a brand like ours,” he said.

“I like the regulatory changes I am seeing. It may slow things down a bit but will create a level playing field and will help in eliminating the unknown for an outside investor coming in,” he said.

The company plans to focus expansion in the country on luxury residences and hotels, and would look at cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and the state of Goa.

Some local players such as privately held Lodha Developers and Godrej Properties are emerging as strong brands in India’s luxury housing space, but the market remains fragmented.

And despite a slew of interest rate hikes that have cooled India’s overall property market and hit luxury developers particularly hard, Trump is bullish.

 

Leela Kovalam, Noida, one of the top high-value sellers in Asia.

The sale of Leela Kempinski Kovalam was among the top 10 hotel deals in Asia during the past one year, shows data from the US-based research firm Real Capital Analytics.

Real Capital, which tracks and analyses real estate deals worth over $10 million across apartments, hotels, retail, industrial, office and development projects over the world, has also named Noida as a top site for sales in the development site category for a deal with the Wave Group for a mega mixed-use project. Mumbai and Bangalore also figure among the active office markets in Asia. In apartments, Delhi and Mumbai are part of the top league in the year ended March 31, 2012.

The Leela Kovalam deal, pegged at about Rs 500 crore, was the 10th in the Asia-list of largest hotel sellers during the one-year period. The Kovalam beach property was sold to Saudi Arabia-based industrialist Ravi Pillai last August.

The other big hotel players in Asia which sold properties at high value include Japan Hotel, LaSalle, Kingdom Holding, Hines and Shui On Group.

Even as Indian entities don’t figure anywhere in the top 10 global list vis-à-vis high value real estate deals in the financial year that just gone by, many of them have made it to the Asian hall of fame.

Noida, the industrial development area next to Delhi, is fifth in the development site sellers’ list in Asia. This was for a deal with industrialist Ponty Chadha-promoted Wave Group for the mixed-use project, Wave Mega City Centre, at an estimated price of $1.4 billion (about Rs 7,140 crore at the current forex rate), according to Doug Murphy, director (analytics) at Real Capital.

In the office space, Bangalore and Mumbai have been named among the most active Asian markets. “There were a number of locations for office sales in Bangalore and Mumbai, the largest being the Embassy Manyata Business Park transaction in Bangalore for about $537 million (Rs 2,738 crore) and Citibank building in Mumbai for about $224 million (Rs 1,142 crore),” Murphy said. Both transactions took place in August 2011.

Delhi and Mumbai are part of the most active Asian apartment markets. While Delhi is ranked sixth, Mumbai is eighth. Tokyo tops the list in high value apartment deals, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Osaka, Beijing, Delhi, Fukuoka, Mumbai, Nagoya and Kuala Lumpur.

India is nowhere in the retail top league where deals in Asia are concerned. Among hotels, Chennai is seen as an active market in the eighth position. Singapore leads as the most active hotel market in Asia, followed by Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, Osaka, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur and Suzhou.

Brigade Group opens Orion mall in Bangalore.

Real estate developer Brigade Group has opened its flagship retail venture Orion mall in Brigade Gateway Enclave, Bangalore. Spread over 8.2 lakh sq. ft., the mall houses a mix of global and national brands.

Orion mall is developed and managed by Brigade Group and located in the Brigade Gateway Enclave that also includes the World Trade Centre, Sheraton Bangalore hotel, 1,200+ residences, Columbia Asia Hospital, The Brigade School, and Galaxy Club. The mall overlooks a two-acre manmade lake and has open-air children’s play area and amphitheatre.

Foley Designs and DSP Design are the interior designers, while HOK from New York has developed the main design of the mall. The mall has LED lighting solutions, automatic sensor controlled car parking, over 225 closed-circuit security cameras apart from 42 lifts and escalators.

Speaking on the occasion, Jaishankar, CMD, Brigade Group, said: “Orion mall will undoubtedly be the most sought-after destination amongst discerning shoppers and for brands of repute as well. With the launch of Orion, it truly transforms the Brigade Gateway Enclave into an exclusive integrated lifestyle enclave and marks the Brigade Group’s foray into the highly competitive retail segment.”

The mall has three entrances from Dr. Raj Kumar Road – Rajajinagar, Yeshwantpur (next to Metro Cash & Carry), and Railway Parallel Road – Malleswaram.
Orion has a hypermarket (Star Bazaar). Its food court (Sauce Pan) spreads over 55,000 sq. ft. Housing brands like Mc Donald’s, Subway, Sbarro, Rajdhani, Kailash Parbat, Empire, Empire Fresh Fruit Juice Centre, Indian Tadka, Mad about China, Mad over Donuts, Tiger bay, and Up south. The mall also houses a Reliance Digital store for electronics need.
For entertainment, Orion will house the largest PVR multiplex of the country – with 11 screens and over 2,800 seats. BluO, a 27-lane bowling centre will also open its first centre in the city. The lounge will offer entertainment options like Karaoke bar. The mall will also house Time Zone, an 8,000 sq. ft. gaming centre.

Brigade Group has completed over 100 projects, developing over 20 million sq. ft. of area since 1986.

Real Estate Sector in Bangalore may see 25 per cent growth.

The real estate sector in Bangalore has grown to a large extent in the past one year. In the year ahead, the city’s realty is expected to grow by 25 per cent, estimates the Karnataka Chapter of the Consortium of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI).

“We are expecting the realty to grow by 25 per cent in the coming year. Last year too we have witnessed a similar growth,” said Sushil Mantri, president, CREDAI Karnataka.

As per studies conducted last year, the city is likely to absorb about 7.1 million sq. ft. of office space against a supply of 7 million sq. ft. While demand for office and commercial sales in the city saw a rise, residential sales remained slow.

Experts said that the city witnessed a great strength in high street leasing and rent, and capital value has increased nominally in a few sub-markets. Also, there was a rise in rental value as demand by retailers remained strong.

With commercial office space developers offering favourable options, predictions for 2012 are that several IT companies in the city will look at pre-leasing office space.

However, analysts opine that office space supply will outweigh demand.

“FDI in multibrand real estate is expected to catalyse a lot of demand from international retailers. International luxury brands will restrict their growth plans to Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore,” states a projected report by Jones Lang LaSalle India, Realty Intelligence firm.

The report states that the mid-end and affordable housing segments will record healthy appreciation in capital value in short term from a low base.

 

Home Loan Rate Should Be Restructured.

With speculations about the Union Budget 2012-13 already doing the rounds, city’s real estate industry too has voiced its expectations. Mainly revolving around increased subsidy on interest rate for loans towards affordable housing and industry status for taxation and construction and relaxation of FDI up to 51 per cent into multi-branding, the industry is hopeful of a favourable budget.

Sushil Mantri, president of CREDAI, Bangalore, says that “The Indian real estate industry was riding through highs and lows in 2011. Last year, one per cent interest rate subsidy was offered for loans towards affordable housing. If the subsidy can be broadened, home buyers especially in mid and lower income groups will benefit.”

“Indian real estate, especially housing needs the government’s support for further growth. The government should consider restructuring interest rates on home loans to attract larger base of lower and middle income group to benefit. For loan amounts lesser than Rs 25 lakh, the interest rate should be lower and should scale up as the loan amount goes higher,” said Sankey Prasad, chairman and MD of Synergy Property Developments Services.

Further the Experts demanded that the glaring concerns of the real estate industry be addressed.

“The real estate industry will be looking forward to RBI’s intervention to control inflation which has adversely affected the industry. If FDI is relaxed up to 51 per cent in multi-branding, this will boost the growth path for the Indian retail industry,” Sushil Mantri added.

Singapore Based Company to Invest in India

The CEO and country head of CapitaMalls Asia, Singapore-based develops, owns and manages malls across Asia, will invest INR 1,800 cr in India. He also said, “apart from funding the two malls that are operational now, this money would be also used to develop 07 another  malls in India.” The company has put-on 02 joint ventures in India, with Bangalore-based Prestige Estate Projects Ltd for projects in the South and with Advanced India Projects Ltd  for projects in the North.

The ventures now own the Forum Value Mall in Bangalore which was opened in 2009 and The Celebration Mall in Udaipur, early this year. The other committed projects in India are under different stages of development in Bangalore, Mangalore, Hyderabad, Mysore, Kochi, Jalandhar and Nagpur. These malls are scheduled to be operational between end-2012 and mid-2013.

Acron Infra Projects Constructing Residential Complex at Pune

Acron Infra Project, Mumbai-based developing company is building a large residential multiplex at Karvenagar which is in the heart of Pune, a 3-hrs drive from the metropolis of Mumbai. They are building a big, affordable residential complex with a total of 2,800 apts spread over a 24-acres green campus. The Director of Acron Group said the fund for the INR 800-cr project will be raised through internal accruals of the company and bookings.

This residential multplex will be developed in six phases.During the first phase, a total of four 25-storey buildings will be built within 18 months which includes 800 apartments. The two-bedroom apartments with an area of 900 sq ft at the rate of Rs 6,000-7,000 per sq ft will cost about INR 40 lac- Rs 50 lac. The registration and stamp duty will be an additional cost to the buyer. This project will develop eco-friendly apartments targeted at upper middle class home buyers looking for comfortable and affordable housing in the heart of the city and the housing complex will offer all the modern conveniences and amenities such as a clubhouse, swimming pool, jogging park, children’s park and a green surrounding environment.

With two decades of experience in construction, Acron Group brings to the table a wealth of experience, modern techniques, state of the art building materials and institutional knowledge, engineering, management, talent and skill, especially in the area of green building development. Acron group with branches in Bangalore and Goa is an EPC company engaged in real estate development, infrastructure and hotels.

The project has already begun and the apartments will be ready for possession on schedule. “We want our clients to appreciate that housing development happens at Acron Infra in tandem with nature,” Meghnani said.

Brokers Hunt for Jobs as Slump Hits Realty Sales

NEW DELHI | BANGALORE: Broker in Bangalore bylane has just opened a stationery shop. He has named it ‘Smart Shop’, borrowing the name from the realty brokerage firm that he ran from the same premises until about two months ago. He switched to retail after his property business hit a rough patch following a slump in home sales. About 03-quarters of his revenues came from sale of apartments, the remaining from renting.

“With home sales dropping, it doesn’t make business sense anymore,” he says. It’s the same story in other big cities. In Mumbai, a mid-size broker has set up a small fast food joint to make ends meet. In Nagpur, a real estater has quit the real estate business and set up an ice-cream parlour. Their worries are not unfounded. While the large and established players in the property business have managed to stay, even during the slump, thousands of smaller players like brokers and agents are being forced to look for other jobs.

It also hit lakhs of people employed with such small outfits – each of which hires 5-15 people.With many brokers closing shops or reducing size, these people are out in the market, looking for jobs in sectors such as retail, banking, insurance and call centres. The real estate industry employs about 10 lakh people across the country, the majority in the unorganised sector.

In the first quarter of 2011, home sales dropped 17 per cent in Mumbai, 14 percent in Bangalore and 15 percent in Hyderabad. According to consultant Jones Lang La-Salle, unsold residential units in projects that are complete or are nearing completion in 6-12 months in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR are as high as 25 percent and 16 percent, respectively. In other big cities, including Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, the numbers range between 12 percent and 19 percent. Sales in tier-II and tier-III cities are steady, though there is some panic due to the increase in interest rates, which have climbed to about 11 percent from 8.25 percent a year ago.

“For smaller brokers, the impact of the current market factors is a lot more compared to the larger brokers,” says the president of the National Association of Realtors India . “Even for our members – who are fairly well-off – business is down 40 percent compared to 2009-10. But the smaller guys are in trouble and are setting up businesses that move on a daily basis. Many I know have asked their employees to look out” Ravindra Bramhe, chairman of the Maharashtra Property Brokers’ Association, says.

For whatever business is left in the market, there are hundreds of agents in queue. For instance, there are pockets on the Noida Expressway, near large projects, where real estate brokers can be seen sitting inside small tents, under the sweltering sun, waiting for business. Those who can’t afford to set up these tents can be seen on the roadside, running after every car that passes by, with brochures and flyers of projects in hand. Industry refers to them as the broker mandi. “All my friends and colleagues are now looking outside real estate before things get worse,” says Chaudhary. Many have returned to the insurance industry and others have found jobs with small call centres. A few have found employment with retail stores.

LIC Housing to Concentrate on Senior Citizen Homes Business

LIC Housing Finance focuses to have a all India-presence for its senior citizens homes business as the rise in demand from senior citizens provokes the company to scale-up presence in other cities across the country. The 4th largest mortgage lender has finished two projects, one in Bangalore and the other in Bhubaneswar, They believe this “futuristic idea” will lead to the home finance company eventually spinning off its care home business into a listed body as early as 2014.

“We expect to make the care homes business a fully listed body in coming three to five years,” CEO of LIC Housing finance said. LIC H.F., promoted by the country’s largest insurer, the LIC of India, is looking for an existence in up to 07 cities, which it says are more “friendly to the senior citizens” and also can get land at discounted rates. The company lately finished a 98-unit project and a bigger 200-unit project in Bangalore and Bhubaneswar respectivly.

Presently the organisation is in the process of acquiring land in Jaipur, Haridwar and Goa. “More cities such as Nagpur and Pune which have historically been friendly to the retired people will be looked at.” India has 65 % of its people aged between 15 and 64 years, so the business model might find many takers. Retirement homes are built in a community format with modern amenities including gymnasium & club houses, music rooms and auditoriums. These projects also come with a house-help which is offered by the developers or owners themselves.

ZED – BCIL’s Two Residential Projects in Bangalore

BCIL is launching two residential projects — Zed Woods and Zed Earth — on the Yelahanka-Doddaballapur Road in Bangalore, which promise a pleasent blend of green living and urban comforts. The organisation is investing Rs 108 crore in total, out of which Rs 90 crore for Zed Earth and Rs 18 crore for Zed Woods. The Zed Earth villas come with a price range of Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 4 crore, while Zed Woods the price range is Rs 25 lakh to Rs 80 lakh.

Zed Earth spreads over an area of 18.7 acres, while Zed Woods comes over 1.5 acres. Zed Earth will have over 130 houses. The campus is carved into two large home phases. The first phase offers 44 individual, single-family houses spread over 6.7 acres. The second phase will offer at least 80 homes over 12 acres. ZED Woods will have 60 houses in its 1.5 acres against the industry norm of 65-90 homes an acre.

The speciality about the two projects is “Zed Earth home sizes offer much lower density of 0.9 in the ratio of built area to land area compared with a much higher density of 1.2 which is the norm in Bangalore. It has drawn from the vast traditional knowledge systems of Indian architecture and ‘vaastu’, and have mingled them with modern engineering expertise and architectural needs of today’s world.” These villas are muted. They offer a combination of rich wood floors, fine natural stone and earth-toned walls on the outside, sloped roofs add grace to the exteriors. Superb spaces with high ceilings, gabled roofs, terraces and backyards promise pleasant barbecue evenings. Split-levels highlighted spaces. Private quite places give personal comfort alongwith solar-powered fountains. Rich and greeny verdure offer micro climate. Every home has its own air-conditioning system that costs you under Rs 1,000 a month on a pay-only-on-use basis. Each home has a wet waste treatment system that converts all kitchen waste into odourless compost for your gardens. Zed Earth homes come in three-bedroom ranging 2,740 sq ft and 2,929 sq ft and four-bedroom ranging 4,056 sq ft options.

Zed Woods, in turn, will offer rich apartments ranging from 811 sq ft super built-up area for a studio apartment to 2,700 sq ft superior built-up area for exclusive four-bedroom apartments with lots of green features.  Zed Woods are luxury apartments with great amenities. These apartments have lush green UAS forest on one side and is on the last floor. The view is very beautiful from the apartment.